dasavaratham: movie review

Dasavatharam had a huge expectation even before it hit the screens. I saw this movie about three weeks before I wrote this blog, and the movie still has a impact on me. The screenplay is very intelligent, but at times it is too intelligent for just anybody to understand.

The first 15 minutes (12th century) and last 30 minutes (tsunami) of the movie brings you to the edge of seat. The story is about bio war, evil forces trying to take control of the bio chip and tsunami acting as a blessing in disguise to avoid a huge devastation.

Ten roles:

Kamalhaasan has taken the pain to act in ten roles (thats right, pain to act). He has shown difference in every role in terms of makeup, body language and dialog delivery. Just amazing..

But it is a fact that not every role impresses us. Rangarajan nambi in my opinion is the best of the ten. The character is a lord vishnu follower opposing the ruthlessness of the king who is a lord siva follower.

Fletcher is the villain and his role is to chase the hero, Govind. Fletcher is impressive whereas Govind is a usual hero. Balram naidu tries comedy when he is serious, not very impressive. Avatar singh impresses through “Oh sanam!” song and a small senti story built around his character. Kalifulla khan (tall guy), krishnaveni (old lady), shingan (japanese fighter), vincent poovaiaah (dalit fighting against sand robbery) help in passing the ball (sorry the bio chip). George bush, a high profile role.

Of course, all the characters discussed above are enacted by Kamal. And when there are so many kamals, there is hardly any importance to other roles. Asin runs with Govind in the second half. Mallika sherawat runs with Fletcher in the first half.

Story/Screenplay brilliance:

I see the story from multiple perspectives after reading about the movie, hearing the cast speaking and watching. It is about reincarnated souls (Kamal, Asin and her dad too ;)) getting together in the current centruy, after being split in 12th century by Lord Vishnu. The same god is responsible for the three getting together in this century.

It could also be seen as possible scientific revolutions which can happen in this century, and how disastrous they can turn out to be. Tsunami, which was considered to be a disastrous event, is a blessing in disguise to avoid a bigger disaster. (Brilliant!!)

On the other side, it could be seen as a story of moolavar (the god in temple who will not be moved for poojas) residing in the sea beds for years before coming back to land to save a huge disaster (this was said by K S Ravikumar, director of the movie).

Whatever be the motto of the story, the screenplay is brilliant. They call it the chaotic theory (ex: butterfly effect). It means two incidents which look unrelated might actually have a relation. A butterfly tapping its wings might have a role in a hurricane in US. The screenplay is tied around this principle (When we actually think a little, we’ll realize every movie/life might be sited sample for this theory). These terms, in the first minute of the movie is a kind of turn off. I started feeling I’ll not understand this movie🙂.

As I said earlier, the story and screenplay are done in an intelligent manner, but at times in a too intelligent manner that no one understands. One has to be open minded to enjoy the parts of movie he understands.

Songs:

The lyrics of the songs, kallai mattum kandal, mukuntha and oh sanam are excellent. I’ve ordered the songs in the order i liked them.

“Kallai mattum kandaal” – Excellent song and the picturisation of the song is great.